Obituary

Loyette A. Polhans Olson

Obituary

Loyette A. Polhans Olson died Feb. 8, 2014, at Cumbernauld Village, where she'd lived since December 2012.

She was born on May 18, 1932, in Newton, and was a 1950 graduate of Newton High School. She married Robert C. Olson, also of Newton, in 1953. They moved to Winfield in 1954, for Bob to set up his dental practice. Loyette spent much of her life volunteering but at one point administered the Charlotte Hill Charitable Trust and the Sidwell Charitable Trust out of the law office of Herlocker, Roberts and St. Peter.

Her main loves were family, her friends, her local church (Grace Episcopal), antique postcards, Abraham Lincoln, reading, and her many volunteer endeavors. She helped bring Hospice care to Cowley County in the 1980s and served on many community boards, most recently that of the public library, in many clubs, and presented many programs to schools and organizations on Lincoln, postcards, death and dying, Mother Theresa, and books she'd reviewed.

Winfield's Red Hat Societies grew out of a meeting she organized for interested ladies of a certain age, and she loved her weekly Memory Loss Society breakfasts and squat and gobble lunches. The Wichita Postcards Club counted her as a member. She was honored a Soroptimist Woman of the Year, was named a First National Bank First Citizen, and received the Loyette Olson Pioneer Award from the Association of Kansas Hospices. The outreach program she began and administered at Grace Episcopal Church was named after her when she "retired" from it in 2002. Newton High school honored her with an alumni lifetime Achievement Award in 2006.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Leo and Jean Ellen Polhans, and her husband, Dr. Robert C. Olson, in 1994.

She is survived by two daughters, Beverley Buller and husband, Paul of Newton, and Mary Beach and husband, Chris, and three precious granddaughters, Christa Beach, Bethany Torrence (Daniel) and Rebecca Beach, all of Winfield. Her sister, Beverly (Ted) Wade, and a niece, Mary Ellen (Dennis) of Topeka, and a nephew, Michael (Becky) of Olathe, also survive.

The Loyette Olson funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014, at Grace Episcopal Church. Interment at Highland Cemetery. Friends may call Tuesday from 3 to 6 p.m. at Swisher-Taylor & Morris Funeral Home. Condolences may to sent to funeraldirector@stmfh.com.

Memorials are to the Loyette Olson Outreach Fund, P.O. Box 490, Winfield, KS 67156, Harry Hynes Hospice, 313 S. Market St., Wichita, KS 67202-3805, and Harden Hospice.